Spooky – Page 2

Month End Video Game Wrap-Up: December 2024

~ Game Over ~

DEAD OR SCHOOL (PC) – I bought it because the title made me laugh out loud. Much to my surprise, it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable little hack ‘n’ slash. Could use a bit more polish, but it’s just the right difficulty level and I had a fun time playing it.

Ring Fit Adventure (Switch) – I’ve been making time to play this for an hour or so every Sunday for a couple months now, and I’ve finally, finally beaten the game on New Game+ mode. Now to start New Game++! Hopefully I’ll stick with it better this time around and finish it within 2025.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind (Switch) – A brand-spankin’ new arcade-style brawler that came out of nowhere and I purchased immediately. I have no regrets. While it could have used a little more time in the oven, it’s exactly what I both expected and hoped for.

Meta horror

I played this game called Among Ashes last week. It’s a surprisingly good indie horror game, definitely one of the best of the year. A fantastic example of how video games can tell stories in ways that other media couldn’t even dream of.

I’d appreciate if you’d watch the let’s play I recorded of it (embedded below). But if you really can’t stand me (why are you here?), you should at least watch someone else’s let’s play of it. I truly believe that this game deserves more attention.

Or, you know, maybe even buy a copy. You cheap bastard.

TE Video: Coming Soon (January 2025)

A new year is just around the corner, and with is comes a whole new programming schedule! I’m really excited for all the videos I have coming up, and doubly excited for absolutely nobody to watch them! Yay for time well spent!

Urayama (PC) – On Jan 2, we kick off the new year with a Japanese indie horror by a new (to me) developer, Yamoto. While it’s a bit rough around the edges, I had a great time playing it, and I think it’s a fun watch. Even with my commentary.

The Knight Witch (PC) – The last three episodes of this series go up on Jan 6, 13, and 20 respectively. If you haven’t been paying attention to it up to this point… well, I don’t think anything I can say is going to sell you on it.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Switch) – Part 8 goes live on Jan 4, with new episodes each following Saturday. I’ve kind of given up hope that anyone will care about this series, but I’m still going to see it through. At least it’s been fun for me!

DEAD OR SCHOOL (PC) – A game I had little faith in when starting, that I came to truly enjoy over time. The first three episodes of this long, long series will air on Jan 9, 23, and 30. Truth be told, at the time of this writing I’ve recorded 15 hour(ish)-long episodes and there’s no end in sight. This bad boy’s gonna be running all year.

Can’t Revert (PC) – Another indie horror on Jan 16, but this one is bad. It’s a very PT-style “walk through the same apartment over and over as scary things happen” kind of game, but with an incredibly overused plot and a bad chase sequence at the end. Still, not the worst game I’ve played recently!

9 Years of Shadows (PC) – Another metroidvania to carry on after The Knight Witch ends, this one starts on Jan 27. It’s a little more of a standard metroidvania, but with a very cool element-switching mechanic and a tenuous link to Greek mythology. I really liked this one, and I hope this series gets even one person to buy the game!

Month End Video Game Wrap-Up: November 2024

~ Game Over ~

Silent Hill 2 (2024) (PC) – Exactly what I want to see in a remake: very similar to the source material, but with lots of tweaks and surprises for veterans of the original. The combat is surprisingly fun (SH combat is usually ass) and the new puzzles are (mostly) pretty darn good.

Can’t Revert (PC) – It’s just like PT, except much less frightening. Also, makes flagrant use of the “bad dad” trope that’s so common in horror games. I had a few good laughs with it, though! There’s a let’s play video of it coming some day.

Peglin (PC) – GD Peglin is back for more…

Month End Video Game Wrap-Up: October 2024

~ Game Over ~

Visions of Mana (PS5) – Played some more to wrap up the post-game. There are some really cool little additions to the NG+ mode, but I don’t think I really need to play this one again just yet. Maybe in a couple months.

Peglin (PC) – This is the game that doesn’t end, it just goes on and on, my friend…

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Switch) – Very good game! I really liked how it took pieces from a lot of other Zeldas and glued them all together to make an incredibly unique entry in the series. I wouldn’t say it’s world-shattering or anything, but I definitely look forward to inevitable replays.

Inexplicability

I’ve been doing YouTube to incredibly mild success for a long time now, and I never in a million years would have expected that this is what would blow up for me.

A crappy let’s play of a crappy game of an actually pretty good film. Who would have guessed? Is suffering through terrible licensed games the way to make it big these days? I’ll never know, because I’m not going to do that.

Going by the comments, it might be mostly that people are shocked that this game even exists. But that shock has resulted in a nice big boost to my watch time and subs, so I’ll take it! We’re officially on the road to 500 subs and monetization, baby!

Month End Video Game Wrap-Up: September 2024

~ Game Over ~

Peglin (PC) – What more do you want me to say? I guess I could stop listing it in the “Game Over” section, but does a successful run not count as “beating” the game?

FNAF VR: Help Wanted (Quest) – Played this again for the sake of a let’s play. Good times were had, except for the stupid Funtime Foxy levels. Those are the WORST.

FNAF VR: Help Wanted 2 (Quest) – As much as I enjoyed the first game, this is one is scores better. While it doesn’t have any mini-games that are quite as engrossing as the FNAF1-3 recreations, it also doesn’t have any ridiculously difficult mini-games like the stupid Funtime Foxy levels.

TE Video: Coming Soon (Oct 2024)

Spooktober is nearly upon us! To celebrate, I’ve not only got exclusively horror games on deck for the month, but I’ll also be posting three videos a week instead of the usual two! Make sure to keep an eye on your subscription feeds on Saturdays!

Bloody Ink (PC) – [Oct 1, 7, 14, & 21] – This four-part series is the newest offering from Doesn’t Matter Games. The first video is actually of the demo, which is packaged in with the full game and acts as a prologue. It’s all very Doesn’t Matter, but didn’t quite tickle my fancy the way that Lost Alone did.

Who Knocks (PC) – [Oct 3 & 10] – Conversely, this is Doesn’t Matter Games’ first game. Playing them back-to-back really illuminates how the DMG formula hasn’t really changed over time, but it has been refined with a number of quality-of-life improvements. I think this is actually my second-favourite game from DMG.

Month End Video Game Wrap-Up: August 2024

~ Game Over ~

Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition (PC) – 20 years later, I finally understand why this game has a cult following that is desperate for a sequel. I’m not in that boat myself, but I get it. Alas, to a cynical Modern Ryan, it seems kinda like a very ambitious project that ran out of money halfway through development.

Peglin (PC) – Several rather large updates means, of course, more Peglin.

TMNT: Splintered Fate (Switch) – 2000+ words coming soon. I like this one. A Lot.

Shudder Film Review Double Feature

More movies have been watched. As Halloween season is rapidly approaching, I feel even more like I need to be writing about them. Both of the films reviewed below are Shudder originals, as you can plainly see on the posters. Preamble complete.

~ Deadstream ~

This one is about a livestreamer who goes to spend a night in a “haunted house” as something of a stunt to entertain his following. This premise is absolutely as cringey as it sounds, at least until about 15 minutes in and you realize that it’s actually a comedy. Kind of like Evil Dead 2 but with a modern twist.

That said, I had to watch Deadstream in two sessions, because it scared the absolute crap out of me the first time around. Early on in the film, our “hero” Shawn enters the house and starts recounting the tales of why it’s haunted, and he tells a story about a ghost called the Corner Man. If you weren’t already aware, I have a strong irrational fear of ghosts. Having all the lights turned off and watching movies about ghosts alone never ends well for me. I tried my best to remain rational, but I very quickly had to turn off the movie and turn on the lights, because my brain immediately started thinking it was seeing things in my peripheral vision. There aren’t a lot of things that genuinely terrify me, but my overactive imagination is definitely high on the list.

A couple night later, my fears had receded, and I decided to push through. This time with the lights on. As it turns out, after that singular scene, the movie’s tone changes dramatically, and it goes from horror-comedy to pretty much just straight comedy.